Feb 21, 2018

Huh, I don't even remember when I wrote my last outfit post but I do know I was still in Shanghai and it has been quite a while since then. Sorry 'bout that but, as I told you in my previous post, I felt the need to take a break and wasn't really in the mood of taking new photos.

However, this past weekend we took a trip with our beloved friends to Hallstatt, Austria and everything there was worth documenting. Yes, it was that beautiful and therefore I came back with almost 1000 photos. I always look at photos online before going to a new place and I did the same in this case so I kind of knew what to expect, but honestly it seemed even more beautiful on the spot. The town is quite small and you can see it all in a few hours (depending on how much time you spend on taking photos), but there are also some nice spots near it or...above it :) More on that on a future post.
Anyway, we were there for 3 days and these photos were taken on Friday shortly before sunset when I decided to have a little walk with my friend and discover the surroundings. All the outfits that I chose to wear were mountains-appropriate (duh) which means casual and warm, but with a twist. :)

The first one, which you can see in this post, was obviously composed around the central piece which is the pink fur. I can't even begin to tell you how much I wanted this fur and I was lucky enough to still find it in January, with a little bit of discount yay. It is the fluffiest, biggest, warmest and of course "pinkest" faux fur I have and it was really hard not to wear it for a month in order to save it especially for this trip (yep, I've got issues) :)). Anyway, now I can finally wear it as much as I want and it seems that I will be needing it a little longer since the temperatures continue to drop. But to get back to this look, the fur had enough colour so I decided to wear a black & white outfit: a warm fluffy sweater, a pair of coated pants and my all day, everyday biker boots which you saw so much already. :)

Let me know what you think of this look :) Would you wear this faux-fur?

Feb 6, 2018

Very long time, no see! Yes, I've been absent around here more than usual, I know.. but there have been some busy times for me, plus that I kind of needed a break due to all the changes which have occurred in my life. Long story short, we moved back to Germany, in a new home which keeps us pretty occupied with all the decorating and arranging of old and new stuff, we've also been a few days in Romania, time in which I got a pretty bad cold, than back to Germany and so on. Moreover, we don't have a wifi connection yet, so this was another reason why I haven't been around. However, I am pretty active on my favourite platform (which is Instagram) and you should definitely follow me there in order to see my daily posts :D - @andyandra.

On another matter, Valentine's day is pretty close and I wanted to create some inspirational collages with appropriate items for that day, but then I stumbled on the beauties you can see in this post and I couldn't resist. They instantly made me think of spring and honestly, who can resist such adorable pink and white pieces? Needless to say that pink is (STILL) my favourite and happy colour and that the items which you can see above are so beautiful and romantic that they would be suitable for Valentine's Day as well.

White pieces are more delicate, but equally beautiful and I tend to wear white mostly during summer, but I think that items like these ones are perfect for spring as well. White shirts and blouses are like basics, we should all have at least one in our wardrobe.

Let me know which is your favourite piece :) The links to each item are below the images, as usual.. and at the end of this post you will find some discount codes which can be used on your checkout.

Jan 11, 2018

My dear darlings, this will go into history as my last post from Shanghai, because yes..the time has passed and on Saturday we will be going back to Europe, back home. :) And even though these photos were taken at the beginning of December, I thought they are still worth posting because of the lovely and unique location which stands in my background. And between us, I also like this outfit, shhhhh...

But as the outfit is pretty much self explanatory, I thought I'd rather share with you some of my impressions of this city and of living in China for a while now. More exactly I would like to tell you what I believe I will miss from here and what not. :)

So, what will I miss?

- First and foremost, the city itself. It is truly a lovely city to live in, it has a lot to offer, there are many places to be seen and things to do, it has tons of restaurants, bars, lounges, clubs, but it also has museums, art galleries, malls, markets, not to mention all the touristic objectives. Ok, that was a random listing, but my point is that you can't really get bored here, there is always something to do, something to see, day or night. I will definitely miss its complexity and I think I will even miss its contrasts. :)

- The skyscrapers from the Financial District and my favourite area, the Bund, which is truly breathtaking. I can't even explain to you the feeling it gave me when I first saw it and I loved it ever since. I find tall buildings quite fascinating and I think I will even miss our cozy apartment from the 22nd floor and the pretty view we had from the balcony. :)

- I will probably even miss the subway because it's very clean, fast, reliable, there are trains coming every 2-3 minutes and the whole network is very well organised. If you can avoid using it during the peak hours (when it is absolutely packed with people), it's perfect.

- I will definitely miss all the trips we took this past year, all the beautiful places we've seen and the discovery of this new world and culture. Moreover, due to a favourable location, this city also enabled us to visit other countries here in Asia, countries which from Europe are more complicated and expensive to be reached. If we had more time around here, I would have also liked to see Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. But they will still remain on my list :)

- Finally, on a more general matter, I will miss how easy it is to make payments here and how fast everything works. You can pay everything with your phone and as long as you have a long-lasting battery you don't need to carry any cash or cards with you. When you order things online the shipping is unbelievably fast (you may even get your package the same day if you order it before noon) and generally, I think that everything is quite well organised.

Having said that, I have to be completely honest with you and tell you also what I won't miss, right?

- Firstly, the air pollution. Especially during the winter time the air quality is pretty bad and wearing masks every time when you go out is pretty uncomfortable, in my opinion. On two occasions during this year we had "the pleasure" to even experience hazardous air quality (with an aqi over 300) and that was in May, when we were in Nanjing and on New Year's Eve. Everything was white and foggy and the air barely breathable.

- Then, the crowds. The multitude of people which are everywhere you go, anytime you go and especially at the tourist attractions and during the weekends. We planned the whole year in such a manner to avoid visiting places when there were public holidays and sometimes (for e.g. Beijing) we even tried to avoid the weekends because it's truly impossible.

- Last but not least, I won't miss the food. I had a completely different idea of what Chinese food meant before coming here and I'd rather return to the European-Chinese food :)) Don't get me wrong, I did eat Chinese food here and there are things that I like but there are also things which I couldn't even imagine trying, like frogs, scorpions, bugs and other weird stuff. I liked the dumplings, the vegetables, the lotus root, the Sichuan food, etc but it is not something I could eat every day. And I also didn't like the typical Shanghaise food because they put sugar in everything and it is all so very sweet. Ahh, I can't wait to have some eggplant salad, the good old sarmale and other goodies.. :))

I don't even know if you will read all this, but I really felt like writing and point out some things at the end of this maybe life-changing journey, and if you do read it I would love to hear your opinion and thoughts on it. :) Have you been here? What did you like and what not? Or are you planning to visit China?